SINGING SINATRA

By BRUNO BLUMENFELD

NEW YORK DAILY NEWS|

Dec 16, 2000 | 12:00 AM

Cary Hoffman has brown eyes, but if you close yours when he sings a Sinatra tune, you'll swear on a stack of 78s that you're listening to Ol' Blue Eyes himself. Every Friday and Saturday night at the Carnegie Club on W. 56th St., Hoffman, with the 11-piece Stan Rubin Orchestra behind him, startles people with his unusual gift. He nails an LP's worth of standards arranged in the style of Nelson Riddle, who helped create the distinctive Sinatra sound between 1953 and 1962. After each song, Hoffman comments knowledgeably on elements of the Sinatra style and genius. All the musicians wear tuxedos. "Lots of people in their 20s and 30s come in and they've never seen what I do except in old movies a guy in a tux with a microphone standing in front of an orchestra," Hoffman says. "And they love it.

" It is an impressive, nostalgic sight. And when Hoffman launches into "I've Got the World on a String" or pours out "One for My Baby," every line is delivered in the unmistakable Hoboken timbre and punchy phrasing of Sinatra at the Copa, circa 1960. Hoffman rejects the term "impersonator" preferring "interpreter" and while he can duplicate the Sinatra swagger with his voice, his between-song patter is more self-deprecating. "I grew up in Queens in a Jewish household," he tells the crowd. "My relatives engaged in high-pitched screaming that they referred to as 'conversation.

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' I took refuge in the record player. I couldn't get my hair as high as Little Richard's, so I tried to sing like Sinatra.

" Hoffman hadn't sung publicly in years when he met Rubin at the Red Blazer in 1998. He auditioned sitting at a table. Since they moved their act to the Carnegie Club last March, a number of Sinatra's pals have caught the show. Among them is Manny Alexander, a one-time piano player at Jilly's, the now-defunct bar that was long a Rat Pack hangout. Hoffman lowers his voice as he repeats what Alexander said to him after the set. "'The old man would've loved it.